10 Days in Paradise (Tropical Nights)

by Haymore, J.

  With a lazy blanket of contentment settling over me, I closed my eyes and pulled her tight against my body.

  Celeste

  I strolled hand in hand with Kanoe along a long, slightly curved white-sand beach bordered by black lava rocks at each far end. It was warm here, warmer and drier than the other side of the island. Tourists lay on lounges scattered on the sand. The ocean was beautiful, a calm, crystalline blue.

  I snuggled comfortably against Kanoe as we meandered along, skirting the waterline. It was an odd sensation to walk just for the sake of walking, with no end goal in mind. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done something like this.

  “I think we look like we’re on our honeymoon, don’t you?” He glanced at me, one side of his mouth quirked upward in a smile.

  I had never been into public displays of affection, but I couldn’t help myself. I leaned toward him and kissed the dimple digging into his cheek. “Yep.”

  We cooled our bare feet in an ankle-deep wave break and looked out across the water.

  “There is so much to see on this island.” Kanoe stood behind me, slipped his hands around my waist, and nuzzled my neck. “I’ve explored it my whole life, and I still feel like I’ve only seen a small piece of it.”

  “I believe you. I wish I could explore more of it before I have to go.” I flinched because, for the last couple of days, both of us had avoided the subject of my leaving. Grasping on a change of topic, I asked, “What is your favorite thing to do on this side of the island?”

  “I surf, mostly. But I left my board at Aunty Nanette’s.”

  “I kind of wish you’d brought it. Surfing here sounds like fun.” Thinking I might prefer something like that over pretending to be a tourist, I said, “You must be bored with all the touristy things.”

  He laughed. “No. You realize I’d never been to that resort café we were at this morning? Did you see any locals there?”

  “Well, most of the employees were locals, I think. But you’re right, I didn’t see any locals besides you patronizing the place.”

  “Locals don’t interact much with the tourists, except those of us who are in the service industry catering to them. But what we give tourists—it’s a fantasy, really. There are two different worlds here. We’ve got the world of the visitors and the world of the kama’aina.”

  “Kama…?”

  “Kama’aina—native.”

  “I’m lucky, then.”

  “Why is that?”

  “If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t have known any of this. I wouldn’t have learned how to surf or eat malasadas. I wouldn’t have seen a whole important part of this place.”

  “You don’t think so?”

  “No, definitely not. My first day at Aunty Nanette’s house, I didn’t understand why life there was nothing like the Hawaii I’d heard of—the Hawaii that’s advertised on the mainland. Everything seemed so rugged and harsh.” I turned in his arms so we were face-to-face. “And damp.”

  He gazed at me. “I like how you’re already saying ‘aunty’ and ‘mainland’—almost like a kama’aina yourself. But, yeah, Hilo side is wet. How did you end up there, anyway?”

  I grinned at him. I’d already told him about what had happened with Manning and how this vacation had been forced on me. “It was pretty random. Caleb said I should go to Hawaii. I just think he plucked a place out of his head. But I grabbed on to it. All the flights were sold out except the one to Hilo, and there were no hotel rooms available there, so I went on one of those vacation-rental websites and typed in Hawaii. Aunty Nanette’s was the first place that popped up.”

  “Kona side probably fits your image of Hawaii a little better.”

  “It does—but I didn’t expect all the lava fields. Driving along with nothing but stark black lava for miles and miles. You don’t see that in the travel brochures either.”

  “Then I think I need to show you the true tourist side of Kona today. Maybe you’ll like it better than rugged, harsh, and wet.”

  I widened my eyes. “Did I sound like I don’t like it?”

  He shrugged noncommittally.

  “That’s not true. It hasn’t been what I expected, but it’s—I don’t know—more. Better. I like Hawaii a lot more than I thought I would.” I paused, then spoke the truth. “Although that could all be because of you.”

  The tightness in his expression seemed to fade a bit. “Yesterday and today will be your tourist days. Tomorrow, we’ll go back to the rainy side. Then you can tell me what you like better. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  He tightened his arms around me and held me close as water lapped around our ankles. I closed my eyes and relaxed into his embrace, dreading the day I’d have to go. I’d miss him.

  Kanoe’s voice sounded ragged when he spoke again. “Okay, we’ll take a glass-bottom boat tour, go shopping for shell jewelry, and sit under an umbrella somewhere and drink some Sex on the Beach.”

  I laughed quietly, digging my toes into the silky sand. “I’ll take the sex on the beach, anyway.”

  Cupping my cheeks in both hands, he pressed his lips against mine, murmuring, “Anytime, ipo. Anytime.”

  My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I groaned.

  “My cell is ringing. I should get it. It might be Miranda calling about Goderich.”

  Kanoe

  I watched Celeste pull the phone from her pocket and glance at the screen as it rang again.

  “Yep, it’s her. Hang on.” She pressed the answer button. “Celeste McMillan. Hi, Miranda. Oh…” She glanced at me, her lips curved in a smile. “Yes, it’s going well. Really well. What’s that? Oh, I can’t hear you over the sound of the ocean—hang on.” She covered the receiver and looked at me. “This is just going to be a few minutes.”

  I nodded, following as she jogged a little way up the beach. I sat on the sand, my arms clasped around my knees, and listened as I pretended to watch the waves breaking on the shore. Celeste’s manager had obviously brought up some work issue, and she began a discussion about growth factors, businesses and people I didn’t know, meetings and deadlines. Her voice had turned professional, but it was also flat and free of any emotional inflection.

  When she was with me, here, she was a hundred percent mine, curious and adventurous and full of life. On the phone with her colleagues, she went far away. Almost became a different person. I couldn’t figure her out. Work kept pulling her away, but it didn’t make her happy.

  I turned to see that her posture had stiffened and straightened, and her features had taken on a stern hardness. Her lips had become tight and serious, so unlike the supple and soft lips I’d kissed just moments ago.

  I didn’t know what to think of her…whether to be happy she was herself with me or angry that her work took her so far away from me.

  But why the hell should I be jealous of her work? Turning back to the beach, I closed my eyes. I didn’t make any sense, even to myself.

  After today, she only had five days left.

  It wasn’t enough time. Not really. Not enough time to get to know someone completely. And yet I felt as though I knew Celeste better than I knew anyone else.

  I knew her better than Hiwa.

  I rubbed my temples with my index fingers. That was impossible. I’d known Hiwa since she was in diapers. It was impossible to know a haole tourist I’d just met a few days ago better than that.

  Yet there was something about Hiwa, something I never really connected with. I’d immediately connected with Celeste on this level, and it was richer, deeper than anything I’d ever experienced.

  What the hell was going on? I only had five days. Five days of fun, five days of taking her to bed. As much as my instincts told me to, I couldn’t start imposing any deeper meaning here. Celeste seemed to like me, but this was a vacation fling for her. What was I doing having all these thoughts that she was mine when there was no way she could be? Her life was on the mainland. Mine was here. I belonged here. Everything I cared about was h
ere.

  Except Celeste.

  I sighed. I felt this connection between us, but she really didn’t know much about me. She didn’t know about my personal goals and aspirations, how I spent most of my days. We’d talked a lot, but in all those conversations, those things hadn’t come up.

  “Okay, Miranda, I’ll do that. Really, it’s no problem. I’m just glad I’m not somewhere far away. See you in a few days.” Celeste pressed the End button on the phone and slipped it back into her pocket. Releasing a deep sigh, she came to sit on the sand beside me.

  “Guess what? I have to go to Honolulu on Tuesday.”

  I looked at her in surprise. “Why?”

  “Emergency meeting with LBG’s only Hawaii-based client.” She glanced at me, then lowered her eyes, drawing circles with a twig in the sand. “He’s received an offer for a hotel purchase in Japan, and he’s headed to Tokyo on Wednesday, but he needs to see LBG’s analysis of the deal. Since I’ve been working on this project from the beginning, Miranda asked me to go. I’ll be back in Hilo on the last flight on Tuesday.” She paused, then said, seeming resolute, “Mike is the lead associate. He’ll be there.”

  A lightning bolt of jealousy streaked through me, tensing every muscle in my body. The irrational, Neanderthal part of me wanted to pick her up and hide her in a cave somewhere until the threat of Mike, or of any other man going after my woman, was gone.

  The rational part of me quickly dismissed the idea. When I spoke, I was careful to keep my voice even. “I could go with you.”

  She looked surprised. “Wow. That would be great, but…um…I’ll be in meetings all morning to get up to speed, and the client meeting is in the afternoon. You’d end up just waiting around for me all day. It wouldn’t be much fun for you—for either of us.” She frowned as if she didn’t like what she’d just said.

  I watched her carefully, trying to decide whether she meant what she’d said or if there was a deeper meaning behind her not wanting me to go. Did I embarrass her? Did she not want to introduce me to her coworkers? Or was there still something going on between her and Mike?

  She stared at the sand, continuing to draw lines with the little twig. I wondered if she treated me with respect because she truly respected me, or if it was all an act because she liked sleeping with me. She probably thought of me as some exotic local fling, too stupid and uneducated to know the difference between a good lay and a real relationship. Someone easy to have sex with and then leave, without the messy complications she’d had in her relationship with Mike.

  I’d been born and raised on this island, and I’d seen a lot of racial shit throughout the years. I was sensitized to people taking one look at me or hearing me speak one word of pidgin, then stereotyping me as an ignorant local.

  And a part of me, since the beginning, had feared that was how Celeste saw me too.

  I clenched and unclenched my fists and took a deep breath. Fuck these insecurities. I tried to push them away, but they kept nudging at me, whispering that she had no respect for me, that I was just a sex toy, that she thought I was a poor local boy who danced once in a while for a little cash to support his surfing habit.

  All this stupid turmoil in my head was brought about by the mention of her ex. I was letting my emotions run away with me. Why did my gut keep treating this thing between me and Celeste as if it was something more than vacation sex?

  Because that was all it fucking was. That was all it ever could be. It didn’t matter what kind of a man she thought I really was. I had to let it go—all of it. I had no choice. She would be spending Tuesday in Honolulu with asshole Mike. And then, in five days, she would be gone.

  Day Six

  Celeste

  Crossing the island in the early morning was like passing through a weather portal. One moment we were driving through Kona’s desert wasteland, and I covered my arms to keep them from getting scorched by the harsh sun. Then I blinked, and we were driving through a soft, green country, through fog, wind and mist, and I kept my arms covered to ward off the chill.

  My mouth ached from smiling. Kanoe’s presence did that to me. He was fun. Fun to play with, fun to talk with, fun to have sex with. I felt energetic and clearheaded. In a few days, I’d be ready to dive into work with renewed energy.

  The only things that cast a pall over the situation were the constant phone calls and emails from work. Though I’d ignored the continuous calls from Mike, I’d had to deal with an apologetic Miranda several times. Just this morning, Miranda had admitted Caleb had been wrong to say they didn’t need me, and that the accounts I’d been working on were suffering in my absence. Six days ago, that would have brought me comfort, but now I began to view my iPhone as an irritating distraction. The most shocking thing of all was that I really didn’t want to work, even though I should technically be preparing for the Goderich presentation.

  The simple truth was, I’d rather be with Kanoe. And damn it, I was on vacation. So I hoped Mike had it covered and could give me a thorough rundown before the meeting tomorrow.

  It was pouring when Kanoe and I arrived at Aunty Nanette’s. We slid and tripped down the path to the house, laughing and soaking wet by the time we reached the shelter of the lanai. Going out for food in this weather didn’t sound appealing, so we ransacked the pantry and scraped together a lunch of packaged macaroni and cheese, popcorn and Coke, the only edible items to be found.

  After lunch, we drove to the airport for a helicopter tour. Kanoe seemed excited but also a little on edge as we drove into the sheeting rain. He kept glancing at me, opening his mouth as if to say something, then looking away.

  “What? You keep starting to talk to me, then stopping. What is it?”

  Kanoe pressed his lips together, then shook his head. “You’ll see.”

  “A surprise of some kind?”

  “Maybe…” he said cryptically. “Maybe not.”

  I made a noise of impatience. “Tell me!”

  “Nope.”

  “Ugh! You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

  “Nope.”

  “But you’ll tell me later?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So you’re going to make me wait?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re driving me crazy, Kanoe. How long are you going to make me wait?”

  “Not long.” He flashed me a grin. “Anyway, I like driving you crazy. Now stop asking questions and let me drive. And stop scratching.”

  “All right, fine.” I held up my hand in a gesture of surrender. I hadn’t realized I’d been scratching, but now the mosquito bites on my legs burned. I’d gotten most of these bites from that first day at Aunty Nanette’s house, and they still hadn’t healed.

  “You know scratching them will only make them worse. They’ll only go away if you stop.”

  “I know.” I scooted closer to him, and to keep my hand occupied, I rested it on his leg, feeling his muscular thigh beneath the material of his shorts.

  “Does it ever stop?” I asked, looking out the window.

  “You mean the rain? Sure. But then things get brown. People’s water tanks dry up.”

  “But is it safe to fly in this? Will we be able to see anything from the helicopter?”

  “These clouds are benign. Anyway, it doesn’t rain as much where we’ll be flying.”

  “Hmm.” The wetness didn’t bother me—I liked it, actually. It made everything green and sparkly. And it wasn’t cold or forbidding—it was soft and tropical, comfortable to be in.

  The airport terminal was deserted, the counters closed. A local man stood with his foot propped up on the baggage belt, reading a newspaper. Overhead, a wooden sign read: Royal Hawaiian Helicopter Tours.

  My heart sped up in anticipation. I’d never been in a helicopter before, but I’d always wanted to try it. Once, way back when, I’d imagined joining the Air Force and becoming a pilot. But my mother would’ve flipped out if I’d done that.

  Kanoe walked up to the man. “Howzit, Leo?�
�

  “Howzit, man?” Leo set the paper on the counter, shook Kanoe’s hand, and gave me a big, friendly grin.

  Was the population of this island really so small? Kanoe seemed to know everyone.

  “This is Celeste. She’s the one we’re taking up today.”

  Leo gave me some papers, which I read carefully before signing, and he motioned for me to follow him through the door behind the counter.

  “Wait—I should pay for this, shouldn’t I?”

  Leo turned to me with a questioning gaze. Kanoe shot him a look, then focused on me. “I’ve got it.”

  I squared my shoulders, ready for a fight. No way was I going to let Kanoe pay. This would probably cost more than he’d make the whole month hula dancing. “I’ll pay. I insist.”

  “I’ll go do the preflight,” Leo said with a little smirk. “Come on out when you’re ready.” He disappeared through the door behind the counter.

  Kanoe had already paid for the Jet Ski rental and the glass-bottom-boat tour yesterday. Not to mention most of the eating out we’d done. I’d had enough. Those adventures hadn’t been cheap. This was likely the most expensive of them all.

  An emotion flickered over his face. Annoyance? Anger? “I got it,” he repeated, but I saw his teeth this time.

  What was with the attitude? Was this some kind of Hawaiian male ego thing?

  “Kanoe. Listen. I don’t want you paying for another thing for me, okay? I don’t want to put you in this position.”

  “What position do you think you’re putting me in?”

  “I don’t know. This is all really fun, but I don’t want to make things difficult for you.”

  “Difficult?”

  “Yes.” I paused, feeling suddenly awkward. “Financially speaking, I mean.”

  He opened his mouth, then shut it, turned around, and stalked out after Leo.

  What the…? Okay, then. He definitely had an issue with my paying for things. Sighing, I followed. Kanoe stopped me just outside the door. He pointed at the asphalt by my feet. “Stay here.”